I envisioned this and did additional research years ago and tabled it due to some of the lack of interest.
Although I have a working proof of concept that works via Ethernet and didn’t pursue adding the uhf mesh radio.
Maybe it’s time to dust off the old code for this.
Original post here https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/thoughts-needed-open-digital-voice-...
See the pdf attachment on that first post for a simple block diagram.
Totally doable with off the shelf hardware and open source software.
Best Elias Kd5jfe